True Detective Season 2 Gets Another True Blood Alum:

Recently we announced that True Blood actor, James Frain (who played the deliciously unhinged Franklin Mott in Season 3 of HBO’s vampire series), will join the cast of HBO’s True Detective for their upcoming second season. Now it seems another True Blood cast member will join him. Deadline had the following information on this exciting news:

Following his major recurring role on the final season of HBO’s True Blood, I hear Riley Smith is returning to the pay cable network with a recurring role on True Detective. The second installment in the crime franchise revolves around three police officers, played by Colin Farrell, Taylor Kitsch and Rachel McAdams, and a career criminal (Vince Vaughn) who must navigate a web of conspiracy in the aftermath of a murder. Smith will play McAdams’ boyfriend, Steve Mercier, a boyish Sheriff’s deputy.

Truebies will remember Riley Smith as newcomer Keith, the vampire that ended up stealing Arlene Fowler’s (Carrie Preston) heart in Season 7 of True Blood.

Will you be tuning in to watch True Detective now that it has a True Blood line up or were you already a fan of the show? Let us know your thoughts by commenting below!

EJ Scott’s List of True Blood Interviews Grows:

EJ Scott is the boyfriend of Deborah Ann Woll (who played baby vampire Jessica Hamby in HBO’s True Blood). During the course of Season 7, he has been posting podcast interviews with the cast and crew of True Blood. Here we have some new interviews to add to the every growing list:

Joining HBO’s True Blood Was Like Joining a Family:

For newcomer, Riley Smith, joining the cast of HBO’s True Blood was daunting, but the cast welcomed him with open arms – especially Anna Paquin (who plays main character Sookie Stackhouse)!

Riley joined the cast of True Blood for the final season as vampire Keith, a member of James’s (Nathan Parsons) band seen in Episode 1 (entitled Jesus Gonna Be Here) of Season 7. He falls for waitress Arlene Fowler (Carrie Preston) after he saves her life by giving her his blood in order to heal her. Their relationship is hindered right from the start though considering Arlene has never been a vampire advocate as well as the fact she is a Hep-V carrier. In the True Blood finale (Episode 10, entitled Thank You), we see Keith and Arlene seem to have their happily ever after.

In the video interview below, Riley discusses the True Blood family, their fans and plenty more with AfterBuzz TV hosts Kristin Carole and Scott Moore. Riley also discusses his character’s relationship with waitress Arlene and how there possibly wasn’t enough time left to really flesh out their love story. He was also unaware of just how much of a fan favorite Arlene is to the truebies.

Let us know your thoughts on Keith, Arlene and their happy ending by commenting below!

Janina Gavankar and Riley Smith Accept the Challenge!

VGU and Children’s National Health System are teaming up today (Saturday 16th August 2014) for the Celebrity Gaming Challenge. Among the celebrities participating in Washington DC today are a couple of True Blood stars: Janina Gavankar and Riley Smith! Janina, you will remember, played shapeshifter Luna Garza in several seasons of HBO’sTrue Blood and is a huge gamer off screen. Riley, however is a relative newcomer to the vampire series, having made his debut in Season 7 as James.

In the Celebrity Gaming Challenge, fans will be able to compete in games such as Madden and Call of Duty in order to raise money for Children’s National.

Could an Original Cast Member Die in Episode 9 of HBO’s True Blood ?

It seems Episode 9 (entitled Love is to Die) will say a final goodbye to yet another original cast member of HBO’s True Blood! But will they die? It seems the devil is in the fine print of what TVGuide had to say about the upcoming episode recently:

With only two episodes to go, there are a lot of narrative threads to tie up, including the issue of Bill [Compton]’s mortality. I will only say this: At least one original cast member will say goodbye for good this week. In possibly related news, a longstanding love triangle will be resolved and you’ll see one of the show’s weirdest — and funniest — sex scenes between a long-unrequited pair.

How interesting is that news? With the admission of a long term love triangle also being resolved, one could assume that with Bill’s (Stephen Moyer) death, Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) finally chooses Eric Northman (Alexander Skarsgard). Consolation prize anyone? However, there is another love triangle going on at the moment – that of Hoyt Fortenberry (Jim Parrack), Jessica Hamby (Deborah Ann Woll) and Jason Stackhouse (Ryan Kwanten). Perhaps TVGuide are referring to that triangle instead? Maybe Jess and Hoyt get back together and Jessica decides to move to Alaska to be with him? After all, it doesn’t specifically say the cast member will die.

And what of that sex scene, huh? Who do we know on True Blood that is part of an ‘unrequited pair’? Could it be Sookie and Eric? Probably not, since they have been intimate before. But it sure doesn’t leave many other options. Perhaps Arlene (Carrie Preston) and Keith (Riley Smith)? Especially since TVLine had this spoiler to announce:

Not everyone will get a happy ending on True Blood… but I think it’s safe to say that Arlene and Keith will be among the lucky few. Though we’re not going to get another pool table scene, this Sunday’s episode does show the effect Arlene’s relationship with Keith is having on her. (Spoiler Alert: She’s a very happy woman.)

But they haven’t been an item for very long, and many wouldn’t even really consider them as such. Oh, hang on a minute – what about Ginger (Tara Buck) and Eric? Now that would potentially be hilarious and weird!

Playing vampire Keith, Riley Smith Talks About the Last Day of Filming:

With the very near death of Arlene Fowler-Bellefleur (Carrie Preston) in Episode 4 (entitled Death is not the End) of HBO’s True Blood last week, we got introduced to Keith (Riley Smith) the vampire. Keith is a member of James’ (Nathan Parsons) band and is called in at the eleventh hour to donate blood in a bid to draw Arlene back from the afterlife. Luckily it works, and by the looks of things, there will be a little more to the story line between Keith and Arlene:

Obviously, there’s going to be some sparks between Arlene and Keith in future episodes… I know that they wanted Arlene to have some sort of great ending with a love interest, and so I think there enters Keith, but there really just isn’t enough time in the last season to drum up all this craziness for Keith and also keep those other story lines going. There’s just not enough camera time so, you know, in a good way for Keith he doesn’t really have time to go to the dark side but, you know, I guess with more time he probably could have.

So we have some sort of an idea about how Arlene’s story will wind up in Season 7, but what about the rest of the characters on the show? Riley was surprisingly open with what he had to say about the last day of filming:

I do think that the ending of the filming was the absolute perfect way that any show could have ended, like, everyone together under like a really peaceful night. It was perfect…. We ended it right because the last shot of the entire show was pretty much the core group of cast mates all together. And so we were shooting outside of Sookie’s (Anna Paquin) house under these beautiful, lit trees, all having a nice meal together. And, you know, we were shooting late. I think it was like 1:00 a.m., 2:00 a.m., and we finally got done, and they did a really nice speech and then they did a series wrap on everybody and everybody had a moment to get recognized, and then it was done.Everybody stood around and hugged each other for at least an hour. And then we all ended up outside of our trailers with a shot glass of whiskey and told stories.

Now, before you get all excited about how the very last scene in the last episode of HBO’s True Blood Season 7 will play out, let’s break this down a little. While Riley has plenty to say, he is a little vague about whether he is actually talking about the last scene of the show or the last scene that was shot – and we all know there is a big difference between the two. If it was the last scene shot, then it could have been a scene – or, alternatively, a re-shoot of a scene – that occurred earlier in the show.